Orlando Bloom, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Ricardo Darín, Lali Espósito, Jeremy Irons, Vincent Lindon, Rami Malek, Brad Pitt… These will be just some of the stars we will see posing on the red carpet at the 74th edition of the San Sebastián Film Festival. Following the major events of Cannes and Venice, the turn of the long-running Basque festival arrives, which this year will take place from this Friday until September 26.
As every year, a wide representation of filmmakers, performers, producers and screenwriters from around the world will attend the festival, where a total of 263 titles from 47 countries will be screened. Filmmaker Ira Sachs will preside over the jury, composed of director Genki Kawamura, screenwriter Catherine Paillé, actresses Alice Braga and Patricia López Arnaiz, actor Bill Skarsgård and producer Mike Goodridge.
The opening will be hosted by actresses Fariba Sheikhan and Mariona Terés, with the collaboration of fellow professional Cayetana Guillén-Cuervo. Next, the festival’s opening film Geister / Ghost Song, by Fatih Akin, will compete for the Golden Shell. During this first day of the festival, the first Donostia Award will also be presented to German filmmaker Werner Herzog. Actress Naomi Watts will collect her award on Saturday, September 19.
The Made in Spain section of the 74th San Sebastián Festival will this year showcase thirteen films directed by women. Among them, 200 vidas, Paco Rabal, by the Seville-born director Vanesa Benítez, or Tres adioses by Isabel Coixet. There will also be space for series, with titles such as Más allá de la sociedad, by J.A. Bayona, which follows the survivors of the Andes accident, or Sira, the continuation of El tiempo entre costuras. Another highly anticipated moment is the presence of Brad Pitt, who will present out of competition En el corazón de la bestia.
Among the 17 titles competing in the official section for the Golden Shell are the new works of Fatih Akin, Jesse Eisenberg, Nicole Garcia, Mikel Gurrea, Pablo Larraín or Mike Leigh. They will contend with their films for the top prize, which last year went to Alauda Ruiz de Azúa with Los Domingos. Below, we review the titles you cannot miss at the San Sebastián Film Festival.
Victoria Luengo in Sants.
Sants (Mikel Gurrea)
Starring Victoria Luengo, Sants is one of the Spanish films that are sounding strongest to carry off the Golden Shell this year. The plot tells the story of Lali, who after years wandering the world returns to Barcelona to care for her mother, who is facing a terminal illness. But her life will take a turn when she meets the charismatic leader of a gang of thieves who steal religious figurines from churches and cemeteries.
Tender Loving Care (Mike Leigh)
Mike Leigh, winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or and an Oscar nominee, returns with a new feature that continues his lucid exploration of the contemporary world. Kate O’Flynn, recently a Emmy winner for The Curse of Widow’s Bay, is Amy, a social worker in the public child protection service, who returns to live with her cheerful best friend, Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson), after the failure of a romantic relationship.
El mal padre, dirigida por Roberto Bueso.
El mal padre (Roberto Bueso)
The third feature film by director Roberto Bueso features a notable cast led by Eduard Fernández, Adam Jezierski and Francesco Carril. In El mal padre, a famous writer and academic gathers his three children before Christmas to ask them to spend a few days together at the coastal house where they used to vacation during their childhood.
Geister / Ghost Song (Fatih Akin)
Farasha and Faris are 20 years old when they meet at a graduation party: a single glance changes everything. But Farasha dies that very night. Refusing to part from him, she discovers a way to cross the border between worlds: for 40 nights, and only 40, she can meet Faris in his dreams. And so their love continues to grow, until the last night. This German poetic drama about loss and longing will be screened at the Kursaal after the opening ceremony.
7:40 ce matin-là / Milo (Nicole García)
With a cast that includes Marion Cotillard, this French film transports us to a quiet provincial town where Alice begins working in a café. But she is not there by chance, but for Milo, a young mechanic from a nearby garage. For him, Alice is a stranger. For her, he is someone tied to a past she has never left behind.
A scene from Mis muertos tristes.
Mis muertos tristes (Pablo Larraín)
The Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín’s miniseries, based on a collection of horror short stories by acclaimed Argentine writer Mariana Enríquez, Mis muertos tristes will be presented in the festival’s official section in feature-length format before landing on Netflix on September 24.
